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Wake County Relaunches Official County Web Site


10/18/2005

Wake County today relaunched its award-winning Web site, WakeGOV.com. The new Web site features a new design, simpler content layout and quick access to Wake County’s online services.

The redesign of WakeGOV.com is the first major facelift for the site since it was originally launched in January 2003. A team of County employees collected feedback from citizens and users of WakeGOV.com to create the new site. The team, using this feedback, overhauled WakeGOV.com and outfitted it with:

  • A new look and feel that reflects the Wake County community
  • A simpler content layout with quick access to the County’s online services
  • An online tour to familiarize new and longtime users with the site
  • Up-to-date content focused on meeting citizen needs

The latest technology platform to make the site compatible with the top five most commonly used Internet browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, Safari and Mozilla)

“WakeGOV.com was designed to meet citizen needs,” said Joe Bryan, Chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners. “Citizens told us that they prefer to do business with us via the Internet when possible. We’re confident that our newly redesigned Web site will make citizens’ visits to our site informative, effective and enjoyable.”

The new WakeGOV.com features access to 26 online services, including:

  • Paying property tax bills
  • Viewing restaurant inspection grades
  • Reserving/renewing library books
  • Finding animals available for adoption
  • Scheduling building inspections

The new WakeGOV.com went through several review stages with citizen groups to better understand what citizens wanted to see in a new site. Citizens were invited to review the new designs electronically and submit feedback indicating design preferences. The designs were also reviewed by the County’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC), a committee appointed by the County Board of Commissioners to provide input on the County’s technology efforts. The project team listened to information provided by these groups and created the design featured in the new WakeGOV.com.

WakeGOV.com Honors

WakeGOV.com is considered one of the leading local government Web sites in the nation. In 2004, the Center for Digital Government recognized Wake County and WakeGOV.com in its list of the Top 10 Digital Counties in the United States with populations of 500,000 or greater.

WakeGOV.com Traffic Statistics

WakeGOV.com is also a very popular Web site with its users. The site received just over 3 million visits in 2004 and 4.1 million visits between January and September 2005. The most popular content areas on WakeGOV.com, in order of popularity, are:

  • Tax/revenue information
  • Library content
  • Employment opportunities with Wake County
  • Elections and voting information
  • Listing of online services

A more detailed report on traffic statistics is available at www.WakeGOV.com/web/stats

Special Resources for Members of the Media

WakeGOV.com contains a special “Media Resource Center” (available at www.WakeGOV.com/media), which contains copies of County press releases, downloadable high-resolution and low-resolution photos of County officials, a listing of contacts for the Public Information Office and copies of the official Wake County logo and WakeGOV.com graphic.



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